Call it westcoast pop or lightweight AOR – no matter what, this is really neatly crafted music! This is the Swedish CROSSFADE (don’t confuse it with the U.S. post-grunge/hard rockers!) based around guitar player LARS HALLBÄCK, keyboard player RICHARD STENSTRÖM and the awesome singer GÖRAN EDMAN. These 3 guys wrote all the songs, except the instrumental tune “Borrowdale”. The album is a combined CD and DVD release, which is a nice idea!

Compared to the debut album from 2004 (MTM), this album is more mature and even “darker” or more melancholic in some ways. You need to give the whole album like ten spins before it gets to you. Sure, there are some catchy songs like the TOTO “IV” sounding “Closer to the fire”, which even has a touch of PRIDE OF LIONS in the end. More TOTO vibes in “Heart of a hero”, while any JAY GRAYDON or AIRPLAY fan will shout of happiness about “Brave new world”. I could mention every song here, but I’ll finish by saying the production is magnificent and musicians like Per & Sven Lindvall, Wojtek Goral lift the album up to top notch areas. I just wish that Hallbäck & his friends would not spend eight years until album number 3. They’re even close to over-producing this one, actually.